


Goose.

by pengiesama



Category: Tales of Zestiria, Untitled Goose Game (Video Game)
Genre: Chaos, Christmas, During Canon, Humor, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21907564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pengiesama/pseuds/pengiesama
Summary: you better watch out. You better watch out. YOU BETTER WATCH OUT. YOU BETTER WATCH OUT. YOU BETTER WATCH OUT ---- or, Sorey and Mikleo encounter an ancient and primordial force of chaos.(Part of the Sormik Advent Calendar 2019.)
Relationships: Mikleo/Sorey (Tales of Zestiria)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 49
Collections: Sormik Advent Calendar 2019





	Goose.

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the Sormik Advent Calendar 2019, for the "12 Days of Christmas"/"12 Pains of Christmas" prompt "six geese a-laying".

\--

“It seems this is the end,” snarled Heldalf. “ _Shepherd._ ”

It’d advanced on them so suddenly, that choking malevolent domain. The voices of his companions were silenced, all at once, cut off into a horrible nothingness. Sorey and Rose had stumbled blindly through the landscape, trying to find their way out into fresher air, trying to find their way back to safety, trying to escape before they ran into the host of this wandering corruption.

Alas, it seemed that Heldalf was seeking them out. And find them he did.

“It’s peaceful, Shepherd, don’t you agree?” Heldalf lifted Sorey up by the hair, from the ground where he laid sprawled. “Quiet. Still. A pillow laid upon the face of a suffering world.”

Rose tried to stumble upright, but Heldalf kicked her back down with hardly a second glance. He would not have distractions.

“W…why…why do you want that so badly…?” Sorey managed to choke out.

Heldalf would just have to flex his disgusting, monstrous paw, just a bit, and the Shepherd’s head would pop like a grape. He did not do so. He had to make someone understand.

“I thought _your_ role was to be a seeker of peace and tranquility,” Heldalf said. “It is salvation that I provide. Salvation, and—”

A loud honk interrupted his burgeoning monologue. Heldalf scowled, scanning the landscape for the culprit. After a long moment, he managed to find his train of thought again.

“…salvation, and—”

“HONK.”

There came a tearing noise, and Heldalf felt like he was…missing something. He looked down, and saw a white goose staring back at him. It had his tail in its mouth.

“Hey,” Heldalf objected, offended.

Thus spake the goose: “HONK.”

It was completely unaffected by the malevolent haze. It was completely unafraid of Heldalf. It slapped at his paw and scurried out of range when he tried to take his tail back. But it did not run away, oh no. It simply continued to observe, to mock. Baffled, Heldalf dropped Sorey and lumbered after the creature in hot pursuit; taking his tainted domain with him.

The light of the sun again warmed Sorey’s skin, as did the comfort of Mikleo’s desperate crushing hug. He returned the embrace measure for measure, trying to calm his racing heart. He’d survived. They’d all survived.

Rose unsteadily went onto her elbows, before being helped up by Zaveid. She looked shaken, battered, and extremely confused.

“What _was_ that…goose? How did it shake off that domain like it was nothing?”

Lailah shook her head, solemnly.

“That…was a being beyond your comprehension,” Lailah said quietly. “A primordial force of chaos. More ancient than even we seraphim.”

“Uh,” said Rose.

Lailah’s expression was grave as she gazed dramatically at the setting sun.

“Heldalf threatened to bring peace to the world,” she murmured. “It’s no surprise that such a sentiment garnered Their attention. For Them, peace is never an option.”

Lailah turned over her shoulder, and gave the party a sad smile.

“I cannot reveal more. Forgive me.”

“I think you’ve revealed enough,” Rose said. “And I’m ready to forget this ever happened if y’all are.”

“Very,” Mikleo said.

\--

Sorey recalled the goose from that day as an unlikely savior, a white light in the darkness. It’d saved him and Mikleo and the others from certain doom. It was a strange encounter, yes, but in the midst of an adventure with many such strange encounters. Sorey had been content to allow the memory to exist as an odd, unexplained little meeting, and had no thought that he’d ever see the goose again; especially after waking from his long sleep.

So waking up one winter morning to see it tearing down the colored Shepherdsmas lights from their house was a little strange.

“Um,” Sorey said. “Hello.”

The goose yanked down the last of the lights, and proceeded to plop around on its webbed feet, craning its long neck around, seeking more chaos.

“You’re…you’re the same goose from back then, right?” Sorey hazarded a guess. There was a certain…feeling about this creature that told him that this was the truth. It was a creature that death dared not touch, lest it get its scythe stolen. Like that candy-cane decoration, that the goose was currently stealing. “You really are. I can’t thank you enough for helping us.”

The goose dragged the candy-cane decoration over to the lake near their house, and dropped it in. The goose plodded into the lake after it, and settled in; paddling in slow circles on the water’s surface.

Sorey heard the door behind him open, and turned around just in time to see Mikleo in all his messy-haired, sleepy-eyed, pouty-faced early morning glory. It made Sorey’s heart go all hazy with love, and his mind floated away from the present situation long enough for him to miss what Mikleo just said to him.

Sorey blinked. “Hmm?”

Mikleo glowered at him, for he was still not a morning person, even after all these years. “I _said_ , what is all the noise out—”

“HONK.”

Sorey and Mikleo had barely enough time to react before the goose charged up to them once more, wings spread out wide. Baffled and a little bit afraid of this strange creature, they allowed themselves to be herded around in the snow, until the goose finally seemed to be satisfied by their position, which was literally exactly where they were before. The goose tilted its head from side to side, its neck bending this way and that. Without a word (or a honk), it marched over to the fallen electric lights, picked them up, and began to determinedly wind Sorey and Mikleo up in them.

“It is way too early to deal with this,” Mikleo said, and laid his head on Sorey’s chest with an air of finality. “I’m going back to sleep.”

Snow began to drift lazily down from the sky, and the goose craned its neck up to glower at the clouds for their un-asked for contribution. The goose honked furiously at the skies, stretching out its wings to offer its challenge to the heavens. The skies ignored the creature, and would be punished for their defiance. The goose fluttered up to land on Sorey’s head, then, carefully arranging its feet on Sorey’s skull, used him as a launching point to get onto the roof of the house. The goose plodded out of sight, and just as suddenly, was gone completely.

Sorey carefully peeked up to see where it could have gone, cautious of waking Mikleo in the process. But there was nothing there on the roof, now. Just a line of webbed goose tracks, which trailed off as if the goose had blinked out of existence.

Mysterious. A strange encounter indeed.

And now Sorey had to figure out how to untangle the two of them from the lights, and maybe fish the candy cane decoration out of the lake.

\--

**Author's Note:**

> I am [pengiesama](https://twitter.com/pengiesama) on Twitter and I welcome you to question what goes through my head when I decide on things to write.


End file.
